In addition to reducing or eliminating environmental reviews, the measure would give mining companies control over the timing of permitting decisions for virtually all mining operations on public land, not just those involving strategic or critical minerals. This bill would also elevate mining above all other uses of public lands, including hunting, fishing, grazing, and recreation.

Yesterday, the House debated the Rule for H.R. 4402. Today, the House will complete one hour of general debate and consideration of all amendments made in order.

The Rule makes in order 7 amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent. The amendments are:

Rep. Tonko (NY) Amendment Would narrow the scope of the underlying bill to address only strategic and critical mineralsRep. Hastings (FL) Amendment #2 Would give the lead agency in a mining permit decision the authority to extend by two six-month periods the arbitrary 30 month time limit the bill imposes on permit approval in the event of new or unforeseen information regarding the proposed project Rep. Markey (MA) Amendment Would require a royalty payment of 12.5% of the value of hardrock minerals mined on federal lands. Revenue generated by the royalty payment would be dedicated to cleaning up abandoned hardrock minesRep. Young (AK) Amendment Would allow the lead agency in a mining permit decision, to exempt areas of identified mineral deposits that are located within designated roadless and recreation areas of national forests from their current management requirements, and allow the construction of new roads or other ways of access to facilitate miningRep. Cravaack (MN) Amendment Would allow projects that have already applied for a permit to access the new expedited process under the billRep. Hastings (FL) Amendment #6 Would continue to allow non-profit entities and individuals to recover attorney’s fees and court costs under current provisions of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). Section 205 of the underlying bill eliminates the right of any party in a civil lawsuit against the federal government to recover such costs if they prevail in court. The amendment creates an exception to that section to allow non-profit groups or individuals to recover litigation costsRep. Grijalva (AZ) Amendment Would exempt from the bill any mineral exploration or mining permit a lead agency determines would diminish opportunities for hunting, fishing, grazing, or recreation on public lands. By protecting the status of hunting, fishing, grazing and other recreational uses on federal lands, the amendment will guarantee that the multiple use mandate for federal lands is not compromised by the underlying bill

“If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, House Republicans are indeed certifiable. Wednesday will be the 31st time they have tried, and failed, to repeal all or part of President Obama's signature health care law.”